Bronte’s Journey to the East: The Romantic Quest in Her Fiction.

Abstract

This dissertation demonstrates that Charlotte Bronte pursues a Romantic quest in her novels. She fictionalizes the quest into actual and metaphoric journeys to the East. These journeys are undertaken by exceptional individuals who depart to an isolated Eastern realm where an encounter with a profound Eastern object generates pleasure and growth. However, the quest is often inhibited by psychological and social forces that Bronte differently resolves during the various stages of her career.